As Halloween crept closer, I noticed more and more people talking about Christmas and the holidays, and how soon they would be here. And honestly, it freaked me out. I LOVE Christmas, but all of the holiday-related responsibilities that are added to my plate on top of my family, work, running this blog, etc., can really take their toll. Being completely transparent, there have been recent years where I’ve barely enjoyed Christmas because I’ve been so stressed out.

I know I’m not alone!

The holidays seem to get here faster every year, and the demands on our time only seem to grow. Because of that, I took some time to think about what is really important during the holiday season and how I can maximize the time leading up to Christmas to make sure that I have a stress-free holiday. I realized that by breaking all of the holiday-related tasks into manageable “chunks” to be done over a reasonable period of time, things become much less overwhelming.

It’s all about more merry, less stress!

With that in mind, and knowing that there are so many of us feeling anxious about the holidays instead of excited, I have put together a series of posts that will focus on one manageable holiday-related task each week for the next seven weeks.

This stress-free holiday action plan will have you feeling in control of holiday chaos and leave you feeling merry and fulfilled when Christmas week rolls around. Each week will delve into more detail, but here’s the general overview of what you can expect:

Hmmm my “clever” titles might not give you an exact picture of each week, but at least you know I have a plan for you!

Make sure you’reon my email listso you get notifications of these new posts as they’re released!

So, now that I’ve written the longest intro ever in the history of this blog, let’s get to the FIRST action in our More Merry, Less Stress Holiday Action Plan:

CLEAR IT OUT!

This task is going to add a little bit of work to your already-full plate, but it will be worth it in the long run. What you need to do this week is get rid of the STUFF that is filling your house. Stuff that: (a) you no longer want; (b) no longer need; (c) have outgrown; (d) are hanging on to out of guilt; and/or (e) has started blending in with the surroundings because you never, ever use it. You catch my drift!

Clear it out so you have more room for the people, food, gifts, and more that will be filling your home this holiday season!

I have started in my kids’ basement playroom. They are absolute pack rats, but I’m selling and donating toys that they’ve outgrown in order to make room for new toys that Santa surely will bring.

Bonus: selling some of the “big ticket items” of theirs like the play kitchen and toy work bench is giving me extra cash for gifts.

Also on my purge list is winter coats that are causing our small coat closet to hardly close, warm clothes that don’t fit or aren’t quite our style anymore, and other “treasures” I’ve been keeping in our basement storage closet.

Donating these types of things helps others in need, and also helps with gift ideas for family members: it gives me a better picture of things they need!

Take 15 – 20 minutes each day and fill a bag or two with things to sell or donate. These small chunks of time will make this task less daunting, and by the end of the week, you’ll have made lots of room for everything else that will come into your home over the holidays!

With this, you’ll be on your way to feeling more in control of your holiday season! Please make sure to check back next week for the second part of the More Merry, Less Stress Holiday Action Plan. And, let me know in the comments what stresses you out most at the holidays!

-Bre

Visit the Other Posts in this Series Here (posts will be updated as the series progresses)

Another Halloween has come and gone, and Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. Although there’s increasing pressure from every direction to jump straight into Christmas, I remain steadfast in my dedication to giving Thanksgiving the respect it deserves! As such, I made this little Thanksgiving Embroidery Hoop Wreath to help acknowledge the holiday AND keep my family grateful during this special season! The “interactive” component lets you and your family add things for which you’re thankful all season long – so sweet!

How to Make an Embroidery Hoop Thanksgiving Wreath

Before I jump into the tutorial, I have to tell you that I did not buy anything new to make this project! I’ve challenged myself NOT to buy any craft supplies for the rest of 2018, so I’m only using what I’ve got. The first project I made in my “craft stash de-stash challenge”, was my leaf stamped tea towels, and this is the second project in my challenge!

To give my Thanksgiving wreath something “special,” I applied rose gold wax to the outer edges of the embroidery hoop, but that is totally optional! You could leave your embroidery hoop plain or paint it.

Next, I stacked two sheets of acrylic felt on top of each other and put them into the embroidery hoop.

When they were secure, I cut off the excess felt from around the edge of the embroidery hoop. This created a pocket in my wreath.

Next, I tied several different ribbons to the top of the embroidery hoop. I mixed some burlap, gingham, and solid cream colored ribbon for a fun look.

After that, I put some feathers and pumpkin picks into the ribbon. This really bulked up the top of the wreath and gave it an abundant look – perfect for the Thanksgiving season!

Finally, I glued the “thankful” word art to the front of the felt pocket. I carefully applied a bit of the rose gold wax to the word art to make it blend better with the embroidery hoop.

To make this Thanksgiving wreath even more special, I wrote some things my family and I are thankful for on popsicle sticks and put those in the pocket. We will add to this in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I think it will be a great conversation starter at dinner!

I think this wreath is beautiful and sentimental, and perfect for the Thanksgiving season.

It’s currently on my fall mantel, but I will probably move it into the kitchen so we can all easily see it and remember to add our “grateful sticks” each day!

How do you remember to be grateful for the blessings in your life during this time of year?

Forget mummies, witches, and skeletons – the thing that scares me most at Halloween is the plethora of creepy crawly insects at every turn. From spiders to centipedes, those little buggers are enough to make me squirm. I overcame my fear of these pests to make some Creepy Crawly Vintage Bug Halloween Decorations to add to my interior decor (you saw my outdoor decor in my Halloween porch post last week), and think they turned out too cute not to share!

Thank you to DecoArt, Inc. for providing the paint used in this post. The project is all my own. Also, this post contains affiliate links. To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

While I absolutely love Halloween, I’m not typically a big decorator for the holiday. I’m not really sure why – it is what it is. But this year is different because my kids (ages 6 and 8) insisted that we “go all out” and make our house the spookiest on the block. They wanted to spend my entire life’s savings on Halloween decorations, so I had to rein them in and take them to Dollar Tree to get their fix.

We put up their decorations over the weekend and I’m happy to share their vision** with you as part of the Decorate Your Porch blog hop hosted by my friend Amy at My Life From Home! (**Everything you see is what they picked out. My version of a Halloween porch would have looked a lot different! It was hard to let them drive this bus, but I’m glad they got a chance to express their creativity and vision for a Halloween porch.)

The caution tape was a big hit with my kids. I think we bought four different types. Currently only two are displayed on our porch (wrapped around the mum planters and along one of the sidelights), but I’ve been told that the others will definitely be going up for Halloween night.

This “creepy” skeleton dude is the splurge item on the porch. Press his hand and his eyes glow red and he says all kinds of weird stuff to you (REALLY LOUDLY). The kids were lucky they caught me in a generous moment during one of our Home Depot trips. 🙂

The planters are my favorite part of the porch. They’re filled with lots of random Dollar Tree finds, but it kind of works!

I mean, when doesn’t a skull look good next to your front door?

Now this doormat combo is a huge point of contention with my kids. My mom gave me this personalized pumpkin doormat earlier this fall and I love it. The kids say it’s too cute. They want it gone. What do you think? Should it stay or should it go?

Well, that’s the end of my Halloween front porch tour. My porch is so tiny that there’s not much to see! I hope you enjoyed seeing my kids’ handiwork. Stop by on Halloween night for some candy!

Also, swing by my blogger friends’ posts to see their porches decorated for fall and Halloween! So much fun.

Fall is my favorite season for Dollar Tree crafts and makeovers, so when I saw their fresh crop of fall arrivals, I suddenly felt inspired to get dollar store crafty. (You might like my brand new Dollar Tree Pumpkin Sign Project, too!) I purchased a couple of their fall pumpkin chipboard decorations (NOTE: even though this post was written in 2018, Dollar Tree currently has these same decorations in the 2019 season!), and knew I could turn them into something cuter and more personal – fall pumpkin picture frames, to be precise!

Supplies Needed to Create Dollar Tree Fall Pumpkin Picture Frames

Chipboard pumpkin decorations from Dollar Tree

Acrylic paints in colors of your choice (I used cream, beige, and orange)

Paint brushes

Ribbon in colors/patterns of your choice

Scissors

Twine

Raffia

Hot glue gun and hot glue

How to Create Dollar Tree Fall Pumpkin Picture Frames

Begin by ripping off the decorative accent portions of the chipboard pumpkins (for example, the raffia and the chipboard flower and/or pumpkin). Once those are off, rip off the printed layer of the chipboard. This came off easily!

Next, paint the pumpkins whatever color you like. I went for a white pumpkin look, so I used a cream acrylic paint and then added some beige lines to give the pumpkins a bit of dimension. I then painted the stand portion of the project orange.

After the paint dried, I tied ribbon and raffia around the top of each pumpkin for some cute detail and color.

Then I wrapped twine around the top and bottom portions of each pumpkin and hot glued it to the back of each pumpkin.

When the hot glue dried, the pumpkin frames looked like this.

Super cute, but even cuter once I added pictures of my kids at the pumpkin patch, and my dog posing with a pumpkin.

The twine holds the photos in place, and these little Dollar Tree pumpkin frames are the perfect spot to display fall themed photos!

It doesn’t get much easier than this, so I’d appreciate it if you would pin this project on Pinterest to help others find it!

Will you be heading to Dollar Tree to find some of these chipboard pumpkins to transform into pumpkin picture frames?

-Bre

I Think You’ll Like This Dollar Tree Witch Wreath Video, Too!

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Hi, I'm Bre! Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you'll find ideas to inspire your creativity and beautify your home. If this is your first visit, check out the Popular Posts tab at the top of the page to see some of the best of Average But Inspired!

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